Gabriel o Pensador steps into the mud
The rapper’s new release is aimed at corruption and submission
Paulo Vasconcellos
28/05/2001
Gabriel o Pensador does not want to just sing (and think). He wants to protest and increase the people’s awareness, too. Therefore, Seja Você Mesmo Mas Não Seja Sempre o Mesmo (or Be Yourself But Don’t Be Always The Same) – the fifth record in an 8-year career – ended up as an album focused on corruption, police brutality, injustice and generalized submission. "I’m really obsessed with making people think, protest and demand for changes. We always believe that the situation can’t get any worse and that it is time that things changed, but then they do get worse. Though I think it’s too much, right now. It can’t go on like this", Gabriel explains, referring to the political scandals and muddy stories that appear daily in Brazilian newspapers.
In fact, the key word on Gabriel's record is restlessness. On the first single, Até Quando, the rapper questions how much more suffering the people can take before doing something about it. "I do pinch the listeners on that one. I ask: ‘Until when are you going to be beaten up, until when are you going to be the escape-goat’, Gabriel teases. And he continues: "People have become too cold, insensitive to the reality. It sounds amazing, but the scandals and tragedies don’t bring up reactions, anymore. The poor people won’t do anything because they are alienated and undereducated. And the rich people remain where they are because they are too selfish", he attacks.
On the track Brasa, written with Lenine, Gabriel experiences seeing Brazil from the outside and missing it. And he also questions the other side: that of the people who come back to the country and feel ashamed of the bad side of it while realizing what the reality is about. The rebellious approach of the album is magnified when Gabriel performs Pega Ladrão (Or Hold the Thief). It feels urgent and sounds very up-to-date. "I wasn’t going to use that song, but I couldn’t leave it out. I wrote the lyrics thinking of the latest political scandals and I liked the result", he says.
The ideological power of the lyrics contrast with the relaxed atmosphere of Gabriel’s previous album, Nádegas a Declarar (released in 1999). "I have always had a more joking side and a more political side. Sometimes one of them might be louder than the other. But I’ve always combined both sides: good mood and awareness", the rapper claims.
But if the core of the album is protesting and complaints, there’s also space for hope. On Mário, Gabriel tells the tale of a poor kid turned into a community leader, who fought the power as a representative from the people. Gabriel also included the track Ah, inciting the people to wake up. "It is a song about alienation. Only the people have the power to change things. Music is a very important means of increasing people’s awareness. If I can get my message through to a few of them, that would make me glad", he finishes.
As he did with all his previous releases, Gabriel hired special friends to make the album with him. Liminha (former bassist with Mutantes) played a variety instruments, co-wrote three songs with Pensador and co-produced the album with Itaal Shur and Chico Neves.
In fact, the key word on Gabriel's record is restlessness. On the first single, Até Quando, the rapper questions how much more suffering the people can take before doing something about it. "I do pinch the listeners on that one. I ask: ‘Until when are you going to be beaten up, until when are you going to be the escape-goat’, Gabriel teases. And he continues: "People have become too cold, insensitive to the reality. It sounds amazing, but the scandals and tragedies don’t bring up reactions, anymore. The poor people won’t do anything because they are alienated and undereducated. And the rich people remain where they are because they are too selfish", he attacks.
On the track Brasa, written with Lenine, Gabriel experiences seeing Brazil from the outside and missing it. And he also questions the other side: that of the people who come back to the country and feel ashamed of the bad side of it while realizing what the reality is about. The rebellious approach of the album is magnified when Gabriel performs Pega Ladrão (Or Hold the Thief). It feels urgent and sounds very up-to-date. "I wasn’t going to use that song, but I couldn’t leave it out. I wrote the lyrics thinking of the latest political scandals and I liked the result", he says.
The ideological power of the lyrics contrast with the relaxed atmosphere of Gabriel’s previous album, Nádegas a Declarar (released in 1999). "I have always had a more joking side and a more political side. Sometimes one of them might be louder than the other. But I’ve always combined both sides: good mood and awareness", the rapper claims.
But if the core of the album is protesting and complaints, there’s also space for hope. On Mário, Gabriel tells the tale of a poor kid turned into a community leader, who fought the power as a representative from the people. Gabriel also included the track Ah, inciting the people to wake up. "It is a song about alienation. Only the people have the power to change things. Music is a very important means of increasing people’s awareness. If I can get my message through to a few of them, that would make me glad", he finishes.
As he did with all his previous releases, Gabriel hired special friends to make the album with him. Liminha (former bassist with Mutantes) played a variety instruments, co-wrote three songs with Pensador and co-produced the album with Itaal Shur and Chico Neves.